Cause‐related marketing campaigns with luxury firms: An experimental study of campaign characteristics,attitudes, and donations

• Cause‐related marketing (CRM) partnerships between luxury firms and charitable organizations have grown in popularity, yet no study has examined such luxury CRM campaigns thus far. Using a fictitious campaign by the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and the Plan International Germany charity, the authors conducted an experimental CRM study among 281 actual luxury consumers. Realizing CRM campaigns in the luxury segment can be promising for luxury firms and charities. In particular, a CRM campaign works best when the donation magnitude is high (25% vs. 1%) and the price of the luxury service offering is moderate (€180 vs. €450). Furthermore, luxury campaigns enhance the attitudes of luxury customers toward charitable organizations, especially if they are unknown brands. Yet this study also offers a warning that luxury campaigns can be risky if consumers who have previously supported the charitable organization perceive the campaign as too high profile. Ultimately, this study reveals that CRM luxury campaigns play a major role for fundraising success.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding factors influencing consumer attitudes toward cause‐related marketing

• Cause‐related marketing (CRM) has proliferated as a marketing strategy and is being employed by numerous brands across product categories. Despite its widespread popularity, not much is known about the factors that influence consumer attitudes toward CRM. In this study, we investigate the antecedents of consumer attitudes toward CRM, specifically sociodemographic characteristics, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, and mediating role of consumer values. We test causal relationships employing a partial least squares‐based structural equation model. The data are collected via a structured questionnaire resulting in 456 valid responses. Our study demonstrates that attitudes toward CRM are influenced by sociodemographic characteristics with personal values acting as mediator. In addition, our findings show that consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence affects the importance given to values, which in turn influences attitudes toward CRM. Our study makes theoretical contributions in the domain of CRM, specifically regarding the role of personal values, interpersonal influences, and sociodemographic factors in influencing attitudes toward CRM. In addition, the findings have relevance for managers responsible for their CRM campaigns.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marketing for change - Giving brands a soul

Is it possible to avoid becoming flavour of the month and then being dismissed by bored consumers as a marketing gimmick? Saatchi & Saatchi Cause Connection offers a different twist: corporates should be taking the long view and lending substance and ‘soul’ to their brands by effective thought-through charity link-ups. Cause-related marketing or CRM, as it is known, has been familiar to American consumers for a number of years, whereas it has only really become topical in Britain since 1996. In some cases this might mean taking on an issue, but in Britain, where the voluntary/charity sector has a long tradition of delivering services, promoting awareness and is highly professional, there is a real role for advertising to play in communicating social responsibility in conjunction with a charity. This paper provides a potted history of the anti-racist and anti-nuclear campaigns, challenges the current emphasis on ‘discretion’ in corporate giving and outlines a simple checklist for undertaking a relationship.     

Charity shops as second‐hand markets

This paper considers several implications of the fact that charity shops are part of the wider class of second‐hand markets. This approach attempts to complement research on other features of charity shops like the distinctive nature of voluntary work and the identities of charity shop consumers. It is argued that the functioning of second‐hand markets highlights some limitations in traditional models of consumer behaviour. This gives charity shops (and second‐hand markets in general) an important role in developing more effective theories of consumption. At the same time, there are more practical reasons for being aware of the limitations of existing theories. In particular, marketing for charity shops will be ineffective if their functions are misunderstood. The paper also illustrates how these theoretical insights have practical implications. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

The effects of re‐branding large UK charities on staff knowledge,attitudes and behaviour

• Despite the costs of charity re‐branding, there is little research in the public domain of its effect on staff. This study addresses that gap in knowledge by evaluating the effects of re‐branding large UK charities on staff knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.
• A quantitative survey of 465 charity staff was carried out in 10 large UK charities. The study shows that knowledge has benefited most from re‐branding although unevenly across different levels of seniority. Length of service has no effect on levels of knowledge but level of support was positively correlated.
• The impact of re‐branding on attitudes proved positive with staff at all levels feeling more motivated, involved and valued as a consequence. However, the study also demonstrates that not all staff feel engaged with the re‐branding process for the organisation to capitalise fully on enhanced staff performance.
• Behaviour was less affected by re‐branding with the exception of a very positive impact on staff retention. The report discusses the practical implications for charity managers.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating cause‐marketing campaigns in the Indian corporate landscape: The role of consumer skepticism and consumer attributions of firm's motive

More and more business organizations are engaging in social initiatives to make a positive contribution to society. Cause marketing, such as CSR, is one of the many ways that firms can manifest social responsibility by pitching‐in where government solutions are few or takes time in implementation, and it is the only type that calls for consumer participation. Because customer participation is imperative for the success of the campaign, it must be designed to connect with consumers while also making them feel that corporate efforts are authentic and truly helping the cause and not exploitative of the social cause. Using fictitious brand, cause‐marketing campaigns were designed, and two studies were conducted to analyze the relationship between cause involvement, consumer attributions on firm's motive, and consumer attitudes towards cause campaigns, and if and how the relationship differs when consumer skepticism towards cause claims existed. Multivariate analysis performed for hypotheses testing suggests that cause involvement influenced campaign attitudes and the relationship was mediated by consumer attributions of firm's motive, and consumer skepticism towards cause campaigns affected the relationship.     

What messages does social marketing advertising send? A content analysis of advertisements aiming to minimise harm from alcohol consumption

• While excess alcohol consumption remains one of the most pressing problems for government and society in many countries, the role of social marketing as a tool for shaping a responsible alcohol consumption culture has grown in significance. This research focuses specifically on the communication aspect of social marketing in the form of social marketing advertising. This study seeks to explore what types of approaches and messages are most prevalent in social marketing advertising campaigns that aim to minimise harm from excess alcohol consumption. This study applies the content analysis method to identify the main themes and messages in a sample of social marketing advertisements. A total of 14 social marketing advertising campaigns, including 29 advertisements, was identified. The analytical framework for this research included both positive and negative consequences of alcohol consumption, and two main social marketing advertising approaches identified in the literature: empowering and patronising. This study found that the patronising approach and a strong focus on the negative consequences of alcohol consumption are prevalent in contemporary social marketing campaigns aimed at minimising harmful drinking behaviours. Social marketing too often takes a patronising approach to encouraging behavioural change. More social marketing efforts should be directed towards identifying how to facilitate and support behaviour change through empowerment by providing consumers with alternative behavioural options.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individualism/collectivism,charitable giving,and cause‐related marketing: a comparison of Chinese and Americans

• With the global expansion of cause‐related marketing (CRM), advertisers need to know whether and how cultural and societal differences impact attitude toward CRM across markets. To add to that knowledge, the present study identifies two consumer traits, that is, individualism/collectivism and perception of individual charitable giving as a social norm, and investigates and compares their influence on attitude toward CRM. By conducting surveys with Chinese and American samples, the present study found that gender, horizontal collectivism (HC), and perception of individual charitable giving as a social norm were significantly associated with attitude toward CRM in the American sample, whereas horizontal individualism, HC, and vertical collectivism were significant predictors of attitude toward CRM in the Chinese sample. Theoretically, these findings suggest that associations between one cultural dimension and the attitude toward CRM are independent to relationships involving other dimensions. And the particular circumstance of a local market may determine which consumer traits will actually have a significant association with attitude toward CRM. Practically, the findings suggest that advertisers may want to choose social causes that have national impact in China because there is a tendency of achieving egoistic enhancement through individual charitable giving whereas social causes that are relevant to female consumers are better strategic choices in the USA.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cause related marketing in New Zealand

Fundraising methods by charitable organisations are changing. Fewer collectors and increasing costs have imposed pressures on the traditional method of envelope appeals. Thus, charities have sought alternative means of gathering necessary funding. Recently in New Zealand, as in other developed countries, there has been a proliferation of charitable organisations linking with a company to raise funds. The company promises a certain monetary donation each time the product is sold. This approach is cause related marketing (CRM). From the literature it is evident that, although there are numerous trade publications discussing certain campaigns, there is a paucity of empirical research in the area of CRM. This study sought to develop an understanding of consumers' behaviour and perceptions towards this promotional activity. A majority of consumers had purchased a CRM product with some switching brands or increasing the quantity usually purchased. Overall, consumers express a favourable attitude to this form of fundraising. However, non‐purchasers in particular are more likely to agree that charities should use other methods for their fundraising. There were no significant differences in attitudes based on gender and income. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

The role and application of social marketing in managing water consumption: a case study

• Water shortages are an increasingly significant social and economic issue in many countries. Increasing the supply of water is one solution (e.g. desalination plants, new dams), but such measures are expensive. Using price to manage household water demand may be viewed as socially unequitable and politically contentious. Social marketing campaigns, where voluntary behaviour change is the goal, provide the potential to foster sustainable consumption of an increasingly scarce yet essential resource. This paper details a case study of successful water demand management in a drought affected region of South‐Eastern Australia. In this region, water consumption was reduced to more sustainable levels through a targeted and successful social marketing campaign. This case is of significant relevance to the field of Social Marketing where there are increasing calls for research into environmental issues in general and water consumption in particular (Kotler, 2011). The extant research literature and this case study are integrated to form several propositions about household water consumption behaviour. Consequently, this paper contributes to the literature by providing a conceptualisation of how residents respond to water conservation related social marketing campaigns. Key issues include the potential for reciprocal behaviour by consumers when a water authority is perceived to manage the water problem effectively, and linking behaviour change through structural approaches (e.g. subsidies and restrictions) and voluntarist approaches (e.g. attitudinal change).

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the link between cause‐related marketing and brand building

The use of cause‐related marketing (CRM) is increasing around the world and provides benefits to both firms and causes, by linking the two organisations together. Most of the CRM literature examines this strategy from a for‐profit perspective. This paper examines how this literature could be equally applicable to examining CRM from a not‐for‐profit perspective. That is CRM programmes can positively and negatively impact on a not‐for‐profit's brand, which is frequently its most valuable asset. In this way CRM can be related to a number of not‐forprofit brand and brand equity issues including brand awareness, brand attitude and intention to support the CRM programme. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Agent-based modeling of the word-of-mouth effect on promoting brand-name agricultural products

Developing brand agricultural products (BAPs) has become a strategic choice for consumption upgrading and agricultural modernization in China. As a powerful marketing method, word-of-mouth (WOM) is rarely applied to BAPs. Based on the particularity of the agricultural environment and products in China, this paper focuses on the WOM behavior of consumers regarding BAPs. An agent-based simulation model was designed, including attitude and motivation functions. The former determines consumers’ attitudes toward BAPs, whereas the latter determines whether consumers will spread information by WOM. The model was validated, and some parameters were measured through a survey of Beijing consumers. Then, experiments were conducted to simulate the evolution process of consumers’ attitudes and willingness to engage in WOM and the influence of consumer heterogeneity on WOM spreading. Exploratory findings mainly show that (1) only when the strength of WOM marketing reaches a certain degree can it affect consumer attitudes toward BAPs, (2) in the early stage of WOM spreading, the greater the strength of economic stimulation to consumers, the greater the rate of WOM communication, and (3) the higher the education level of the target group of WOM marketing, the higher the efficiency of WOM communication.

     

A critical review of forms of corporate community involvement: from philanthropy to partnerships

• The paper offers a critical review of the forms of corporate community involvement (CCI) including: corporate philanthropy, benefaction, patronage, sponsorship and cause related marketing (CRM) and partnership. It discusses the differences/similarities and compares the limitations of the transactional forms of interaction with the latest form of partnership.
• The paper suggests that the form of partnership represents a shift towards a non-linear business model of CCI, that is moving away from an outcome towards a process orientation. Three factors are identified conditioning the successful implementation and sustainability of partnerships which are linked with the previous limitations of transactional approaches of interaction. Finally, the paper puts forward three propositions in order for partnerships to: (1) contribute to the increase of institutional trust among organisations and across sectors; (2) assist in balancing the dynamics across the sectors and (3) appreciate the process of interaction as a source of benefits.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of cause‐related marketing for differential positioning of market entrant in developing market: An exploratory study in Indian context

Cause‐related marketing is being increasingly used for forging strong relation between the brand and the customer. It is primarily being used by the well‐established brands to further strengthen their position in the market as it leads to a positive image of the brand, and customers are more receptive towards such brands because they tend to provide them with tangible as well as intangible benefits. This study tends to identify the effectiveness of cause‐related marketing as a marketing tool for newly launched products in developing market of India, which has so far remained a less explored area. A sample of 150 consumers was taken, and case studies were undertaken for validating these findings. The findings suggest that cause‐related marketing campaigns, even at early stages of brand development, can lead to customer trial and differential positioning thus providing these new entrants with an opportunity to interact with the customers. The proposed framework can provide useful insights to brand managers to design cause‐related marketing campaigns for newly launched brands. The results and findings have been deduced from real‐time market research, and it can help in furthering research in the field of cause‐related marketing in India and other developing economies with similar market conditions.     

Differences between students and non‐students' willingness to donate to a charitable organisation

• This paper reports on a comparative study of students and non‐students that investigates which psycho‐social factors influence intended donation behaviour within a single organisation that offers multiple forms of donation activity. Additionally, the study examines which media channels are more important to encourage donation. A self‐administered survey instrument was used and a sample of 776 respondents recruited. Logistic regressions and a Chow test were used to determine statistically significant differences between the groups. For donating money, importance of charity and attitude towards charity influence students, whereas only importance of need significantly influences non‐students. For donating time, no significant influences were found for non‐students, however, importance of charity and attitude towards charity were significant for students. Importance of need was significant for both students and non‐students for donating goods, with importance of charity also significant for students. Telephone and television channels were important for both groups. However, Internet, email and short messaging services were more important for students, providing opportunities to enhance this group's perceptions of the importance of the charity, and the importance of the need, which ultimately impacts on their attitudes towards the charity. These differences highlight the importance of charities focussing on those motivations and attitudes that are important to a particular target segment and communicating through appropriate media channels for these segments.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Regulation and the Market for Activism

This paper presents a theory of the market for activism where citizens fund activists, campaigning activists pressure firms to change their practices, and firms self‐regulate to forestall or mitigate campaigns. Activists have leverage because firms must self‐regulate before they are targeted, and their self‐regulation must deter the activists conditional on being targeted. Activists anticipate gaining more from campaigns against soft (more vulnerable) firms than hard (less vulnerable) firms, so it is more costly for soft firms to forestall the activists, and some risk a campaign but self‐regulate to mitigate the probability that the campaign succeeds. Campaigns thus can occur in equilibrium. The threat from activism is the probability that a firm is targeted, and the stronger the threat the fewer campaigns there are because more firms self‐regulate to forestall a campaign. Radical activists target harder firms than do moderate activists, and the more radical the activists the more costly it is to forestall them. Some firms are too hard to be threatened by activism and maximize their profits. Firms that are too hard to target directly may be vulnerable to campaigns threatening their supply and distribution chains. Activists and their donors have an incentive to maximize the scope of activism; that is, the breadth of the threat from activism.     

Second‐gift behaviour of first‐time donors to charity: an empirical study

• This study examined the second‐time charity giving behaviour of a sample of 551 young people during a 2‐year period following the occurrence of their first ever significant donation. It explored the factors that encouraged an individual to make a second gift, the probabilities that a donation would be made within certain time intervals after the initial gift (3 months, 6 months, a year, etc.) and the variables that influenced whether the second donation would go to the charity receiving the person's first gift or to a different charity. Relevant issues were investigated via a Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and through a binary logistic regression. Covariates employed in the course of the study included the degree of emotional uplift a person experienced and the level of mind‐set change that took place consequent to a first donation, donor confusion with the range and variety of charities available and the reputation and image congruity of the second charity to which the participant had contributed. The roles of personal inertia and social pressure when making donation decisions were also examined.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building e‐support for cause‐related marketing through strategic alliances

New opportunities for nonprofit organisations to reach new donors and volunteers are being generated by an accelerated interest in cause‐related marketing on the part of both consumers and business firms, in conjunction with the emergence of the Internet. Together, these conditions have created a climate conducive for nonprofit alliances with corporations to become one of the fastest growing forms of marketing today. This paper examines online cause‐related marketing from the fundraiser's perspective, and sets forth a series of marketing management implications of building relationships with businesses and their customers as potential donors on the Internet. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Enhancing occupational health and safety in young workers: the role of social marketing

• Young workers (age 15–24) suffer work‐related injury at a much higher rate than older workers, yet research on the role and effectiveness of social marketing to influence and improve workplace safety is limited.
• A review of the relevant literature reveals that significant gaps exist in terms of effectively using social marketing to reduce young worker injury rates.
• A comprehensive, multi‐faceted social marketing approach is required to address young worker safety.
• Directing more attention toward the practice of social marketing can enhance the effectiveness of campaigns to reduce workplace injuries.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cause-related marketing and values in Australia

An investigation is conducted into attitudes towards cause-related marketing (CRM) among Australian consumers, with attention to the underlying differences in consumer values. It is found that those who place greater importance on values such as warm relationships, self-fulfilment and security are likely to have more positive attitudes towards CRM. In addition, females appear to have somewhat more positive attitudes towards cause-related marketing than males. Interestingly, the degree to which consumers are susceptible to interpersonal influence is not related to attitudes towards CRM. The implications are that cause-related marketing efforts are therefore best directed at females and those who value relationships, self-fulfilment and security. Efforts to support CRM through social influences (ie via compliance and conformity) would appear to be unlikely to succeed. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications